The Roval reconfiguration will be debated for quite a while. It was a contest in which drivers were challenged to pass one another - not great. But it was the post-race news that has the most impact. We're leaving the controversy to social media and looking ahead to the 2024…
The jury is definitely out on the Bristol Night Race as a racing product. When it comes to playoff positioning, however, Kyle Larson stole the show and reinforced his top dog status as the 2024 Round of 12 opens. But for four teams, the results were less than favorable. And…
What a race. More specifically, what a finish in Sunday night's Southern 500! There was plenty to take away between Martin Truex Jr. putting himself on shaky ground and season first-time winner Chase Briscoe punching his postseason ticket at the last possible moment. Briscoe's Crown Jewel victory and Harrison Burton's…
The 2024 MLB season is roughly one-quarter of the way finished, making now a great time to self-assess our preseason projections. Where are things on track? And more importantly, where has JJ's outlook led him astray? Weather is improving across the country but recent cooler temps have reminded us how…
Milwaukee persevered in a division of hot runs devoid of staying power. Of course, perennial NL Central favorite St. Louis bottoming out did not hurt whatsoever. The 20-8 start from Pittsburgh flamed out, Cincinnati's early summer heater ran out of fuel, and the Cubbies' post-ASB run petered out in September.…
What a difference one year makes! Sure, the Baltimore Orioles gave us a sneak peak of their future plans in 2022 but last year's achievements were far and away one of the MLB's biggest surprises. Despite Tampa Bay's 29-7 start to the campaign, Baltimore outlasted the Rays in the division…
When it comes to last year's preseason expectations, the NL East showed tremendous strength with four of its five teams ultimately exceeding their win totals. The debacle in Queens stood as the lone exception. That's a whole other story onto itself. Marginal clubs like the Marlins and Nationals finished the…
Last year I asked whether there were enough cracks in L.A.'s armor to unseat them from the NL West throne. The answer was a resounding "no". But things quickly went downhill once the postseason rolled around. Ironically, the Dodgers' early exit came at the hands of no other than the…
From a torrid 40-20 start through a ho-hum summer, the Texas Rangers played the role of postseason road warriors on their way to the franchise's first World Series Championship. 11 of their 13 playoff wins came away from Globe Life Field! The Rangers' third AL Pennant came at the expense…
We're becoming big fans of the AL Central after a correlated under/over win total pairing with Chicago and Minnesota got home. And that was one year removed from being rewarded for buying low on both Minnesota and Cleveland. (Don't worry, this self-back slapping gives way to shame in the NL…
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship landscape just got rockier. Strong work by the teams on top combined with Ryan Blaney's must-win execution ushers in a dicey Round of 8. Las Vegas, Homestead, and Martinsville stand in the way of four drivers punching their ticket into Championship contention at Phoenix.…
The first set of cuts in the 2023 NASCAR Playoffs came after one hell of a Bristol Night Race. JGR's domination on that misty night led to a Denny Hamlin victory while his cohorts Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell moved on in the postseason gauntlet. Toyota's five playoff representatives…
Last Chance at Daytona was one hell of a show. Three-wide racing and hard hits led to the RFK Racing boys executing to perfection, delivering Chris Buescher a career-high victory #3 in 2023. Yanni has us covered for the NFL season with a must-read series of divisional previews and the…
Is the 2023 AL West a two-horse race once again after the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners rose to the top in 2022? Anchored by tested veterans and juiced up by a pair of phenomenal rookies, these two clubs represented the division in the postseason after their division mates floundered…
There was certainly something about the East divisions last year as the American League and National League versions each sent three representatives to the playoffs. Yet it was the NL side's representative that had enough left in tank to reach the sport's biggest stage. Even though Philadelphia fell just short,…
The AL East stood as MLB's deepest division with four teams above .500, three of which made the postseason. New York's return to the top of the hill got them as far as the ALCS where the ride ended abruptly at the hands of the World Series Champion Astros. In…
From a win total futures betting perspective, the NL West joined the AL Central as sweet spots for the bankroll last fall. The Dodgers could not be stopped while the Giants fell off a cliff once May rolled around. But Los Angeles and their MLB-leading 111 wins couldn't keep them…
The second half of the 2022 MLB season featured a pair of noteworthy NL Central battles. Most importantly was the tug of war for last place between my Cincinnati Reds and their dance partner Pittsburgh Pirates (that's sarcasm, folks). In a fitting conclusion they both held down the cellar with…
It's quiet out there in the Midwest - and that's how the Cleveland Guardians stayed under the radar with one of the strongest second-half performances in the MLB. The rebranded - and still beloved - Guardians squad finished the regular season on a 38-18 heater that yielded an eleven game…
With the Clash right in front of us, there's no better time to break down our featured 2023 NASCAR futures position. At least I don't have to eat crow from last year's handicap that was loosely based on the premise that Kyle Larson is not the next Jimmie Johnson. Might…
Just like that, two domestic books drop their season win totals out of the blue. Days away from the NFL Playoffs kickoff and our mid-January projections get put to the test. Caesars Sportsbook and BetRivers (Kambi) posted eight totals in common this week and the other 22 varied anywhere from…
The short and sweet All-Star Break left JJ & Yanni with no choice: jump on a pod with Big Tasty and D-Nice to talk Major League Baseball's first half and futures bets as the season heads down the stretch. You know The BetCrushers Team is in good hands with these…
There's one small problem that comes with rolling out divisional previews on the early side in an offseason like this. Quite a few impact trades and free agent signings occurred after the early editions were published and my win total bets were booked. So with Opening Day right around the…
I saved the best for last. The World Series Champion Atlanta Braves brought the hardware back to the NL East after a slow start to the season. It was impressively opposite of the Mets' summer swoon that landed them with a below-.500 record behind the sneaky Phillies. There's a ton…
I owe a lot to the AL West for being our preseason futures cash cow once again as the Houston Astros picked up where they left off in the 2020 postseason. The division title got very interesting down the stretch as Oakland's second-half fizzle coupled with an overlooked Seattle club…
Not only was the AL East home to a fierce battle between the Yankees and Red Sox, it bore three playoff teams come October. Once the Tampa Bay Rays sealed their second straight division title it was a mad dash for the wild card slots. Toronto's late surge was worthy…
The Minnesota Twins entered the 2021 season with high hopes of a third consecutive AL Central crown. Reality proved to be quite the bear for the defending champs from the get-go. Instead of a repeat, the Twins cratered to the bottom of the heap while the Chicago White Sox completed…
Milwaukee's success, paired with divisional foes who struggled to keep pace down the stretch, resulted in the NL Central's third different champion in as many years. St. Louis's sluggish start made it that much more difficult for the Cardinals to chase down the Brewers, though they certainly made a valiant…
When it came to taking down one of the toughest divisions in the majors, San Francisco defied the odds and showed that old dudes can still get it done. Out of nowhere, the Giants - not the Padres - disrupted the Dodgers' eight-year reign over the NL West. But the…
The start of the NASCAR Cup Series season is so close you can smell it! A unique short track Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum unofficially kicks things off on Sunday, February 6th. Of course, the start to the points season is marked by the epic Daytona 500 two weeks…
The Braves' punctuated the 2020 season with their third straight and 15th overall NL East title. Atlanta's impressive young nucleus gives the impression of a club building their way towards a dynasty like that of the late 1990's. On the flip side, the 2019 World Series Champion Washington Nationals was…
A dramatic changing of the AL East guard was punctuated by Boston trading Mookie Betts to the Dodgers. While the Red Sox sunk to the depths of the division, Tampa Bay rose to the top with stingy pitching and defense. The Rays' grindy approach to the modern game earned them…
It's a story that only made sense in the year 2020. While the Cardinals were stuck at home due to COVID-related issues, the Chicago Cubs grew an early lead in the NL Central. They slogged their way to the division title as St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee finished no better…
Another NL West title for the Dodgers. This time, however, Los Angeles was not denied the franchise's seventh World Series Championship. Six months earlier, there was plenty of optimism to go around the division. Arizona was positioned to build on a gritty 2019 season while San Diego looked the part…
The AL West was front and center all throughout the last offseason. Texas was set to move into its new airplane hangar-esque stadium while the Angels scored prized free agent Anthony Rendon, joining forces with all-world player Mike Trout. Even so, all of this mundane activity was overshadowed by Houston's…
The AL Central proved to be very competitive down the stretch in the truncated 2020 MLB season. Three legitimate playoff teams vied for the division - Minnesota, Chicago, and Cleveland - with just a single game separating them in the end. It took a 16-8 surge from the Twins to…
Download EPISODE 2 of 2021 (Daytona 500) Paul welcomes back JJ from the BetCrushers to Episode 2 of the Playing the Odds NASCAR Style podcast. It’s Daytona week, baby! And that means the 2021 NASCAR Cup season is off and running. First, the guys look back at Tuesday night’s Busch…
Paul welcomes JJ from the BetCrushers onto the Playing the Odds NASCAR Style podcast to talk Daytona and how the 2021 NASCAR season is shaping up. Before they get too far ahead, Paul recaps some recent news since the season preview pod dropped. It’s Episode #1 of the new season…
The need for sports is real as the United States deals with quarantines and work closures. Hell, even national leaders are calling for the return of sports like baseball to help improve morale. NASCAR rolled out its plan to resume their 2020 season this month. MLB followed that with another…
The BetCrushers early look at NFL Win totals for the 2020 season
The 2019 American League West saw the Houston Astros make their second run at a World Series in three years. Oakland repeated their 2018 season with 97 wins and another loss in the Wild Card game. Below them, a trio of teams struggled to crack the .500 mark. The Angels…
Going into the 2019 season, expectations were high in the NL East, where all but one team had season win totals of 85 or higher. Even more impressively, three of those four actually exceeded their totals. Your World Series Champions, the Washington Nationals, cleared their total with a second-half surge…
Goldilocks would have loved the 2019 AL East: two teams pushed their way to the top, two sunk to the bottom, and one settled in the middle. But she's the only one who'd call Boston "just right" last year, as they failed to repeat their 2019 glory. Baltimore and Toronto…
Last year's NL Central crown race was one of the tightest in the league. My eyes, as a holder of a late-season plus-money divisional futures ticket on the Cardinals, were glued to Milwaukee's September charge. The Brew Crew made things way too interesting for my taste, even without 2018 NL…
The Minnesota Twins owned the AL Central in 2019. They took the division lead on April 20th and ran away with it by smashing offensive records and by getting unexpected production out of starting pitchers. It looked like a runaway until the Indians picked themselves up off the mat and…
In 2019, the Los Angeles Dodgers were crowned kings of the National League West for the seventh year in a row. Given this juggernaut, few people expected the division to be competitive despite San Diego making an offseason splash by signing monster free agent Manny Machado. Regardless, consensus gave Colorado…
The NASCAR Playoffs move further south this week to one of the most unpredictable tracks on the Cup Series circuit, the Charlotte Roval. It's a road course and an oval jammed together, exactly like how a spork is both a spoon and a fork. Bottom line: the Roval debuted in…
The NASCAR postseason kicks in after upcoming Cup Series stops at Darlington and the Brickyard. We hold a few small Championship futures tickets made before the season began, but now it's time to look for value as we near the final ten races of the season. Handicapping the 2019 NASCAR…